10monkeys: Maths 'personal trainer' created with Tekes funding

4/2/2015

In the maths games by game studio 10monkeys, primary school children solve sums and multiplication tables with the help of cheerful monkeys. These exciting online and mobile games introduce children from Finland and abroad to the joy of maths. Product development has been expedited by factors such as Tekes' Learning Solutions Programme.

A Finnish educationalist had the idea of creating online maths learning material, after noticing that the related teaching material had not developed in decades. The result was the cloud-based learning application Math World by 10monkeys. Teachers can use the application alongside traditional teaching material and – most of all – make learning maths fun!

10monkeys encourages learning

10monkeys' flagship product, Math World, is an extensive browser-based practising tool for use at school and in the home. Katri Björklund, the Managing Director of 10monkeys, describes the solution as a kind of personal trainer in maths.

"As tasks are completed, the application creates learning statistics for the teacher, who can then follow the progress of individual pupils or the whole class," says Björklund.

Children are motivated to learn by the application's 10 monkey characters, in addition to the fun games and the motivation they provide. As well as in Maths World, the characters feature in learning-support applications.

"We believe that teachers should have as many tools as possible in aid of teaching. A varied approach is best – there is more than just one way to teach," Björklund adds.

Strategy and product developed under the Learning Solutions programme

Tekes has been on board and providing support as part of the 10monkeys story since it began. Björklund explains that the first demo was created based on funding from Tekes.

"We have a long history alongside Tekes, which includes our strategy finalisation and product development. Because 10monkeys has been an international company from the outset, in our projects we have focused on process development and scalable products. Under Tekes' Learning Solutions programme, 10monkeys has focused on product development in particular. For example, we piloted earnings logics familiar from the game world, with excellent results," says a happy Björklund. The Tekes project will end in April 2015 and the results look encouraging.

"We would never have moved forward at this speed without the project. We now have more-developed products and even happier customers. Now the sky is the limit," comments a delighted Björklund.